Flexible molding strips have been used for decorating and protecting various items as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,754. However, there is no provision in the patent for enabling the decorative strip to be customized to harmonize with the decor of the room or the furniture. Consequently, it is not possible to add a feature that will color coordinate any molding strip to match the decor of the room or the furniture. It has also been proposed to attach a strip of colored pressure-sensitive tape to an article for decoration, but the proposed product is not sufficiently durable for commercial use on furniture because the decorative tape can be stripped away from the underlying article. In addition, colored adhesive tape is relatively expensive and the proper positioning of the tape on an article is a time consuming, labor intensive operation which has prevented such tape from being used commercially on furniture.
It has also been previously proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,110 to provide a flexible decorative strip and to press-fit the decorative strip directly into a rigid chair frame that is specially made with dovetail grooves on an exposed surface. This arrangement requires rigid chair frame members having an unusual custom-made form. This makes it unsuitable for a wide range of wooden furniture that lacks dovetail grooves. In addition, the strip has only one piece and thus provides only one color.
In contrast to the prior art, it is a major objective of the invention to provide a decorative strip or base strip that can be attached to any of a variety of furniture or appliance items and to provide an additional ornamentation for the strip that can be used to achieve a pleasing color effect or additional protection to prevent the decorative strip from being damaged or marred.
Another important object of the invention is to provide a flexible decorative strip with an ornamental surface member which is also flexible and which can be manually inserted and removed as required by workmen on the job site to allow the decorative strip to harmonize better with the decor of the room in which it is to be used.
A more specific object is to enable a workman to add to a decorative strip any of a variety of colors of flexible material for decorating the surface of an ornamental molding strip so as to easily create any of a variety of different, pleasing visual effects with a minimum of material.
A further object is to provide a flexible decorative strip which can be custom color coordinated with the decor and which is still rugged in construction, low in cost, and can be readily assembled to provide any of a variety of colors either at the factory or at the job site.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.